At the start of April, Ralph Corkill, General Secretary of UEL was standing on the 'Students against the war on terror' slate to be VP Education of NUS. Seemingly totally at home with hostile surroundings here is his personal account of how the UEL visit to Palestine is getting on.
By Ralph Corkill
18th April
It is hard to Know where too begin! I wish to thank all those brothers and
sisters comrades etc. in the struggle that helped make the dream of ours a
reality and supported us in getting here. We are having what is already one
of the most amazing experiences and insights into the realities of how the
world works. Having come from the belly of the beast, to one of the
resistance movement’s strongest quarters it is a culture shock but a
positive one!
The airport was one of the most nerve raking experiences I have ever had,
especially as if they had sent us back all I could have said would have been;
‘Airport
security in ‘Israel’ is harsh and doesn’t it prove the point that, we can
not even see for our selves if all the stories and accounts we have heard
about this madness, are madness or true.’
Not that I ever doubted the
Palestinians were oppressed, having grown up in the British military system
I know how inhumane and sick military might is.
After Tel-Aviv airport we drove with our people to Bethlehem the views out
of the window were like all those reports you see on T.V. rolled into one,
by this I mean that you see a city then countryside but each area seems to
have clear boundaries in many cases a big fat ‘security’ fence. We saw
burned out cars deserted in the area. Then we saw what looked like a collection of
holiday villas. Then people living in tents in what looked like very
financially poor situations.
Getting to our first check point they checked our passports and waived us
through. This is where my love for being in Palestine began. Our driver
didn’t stop telling us about what was what we saw out of the window and
quickly put us in the picture, in the sense of the geo-political and
economic situation but also day to day life in Bethlehem. There are now 48
settlements in the West Bank. The military camp cuts of the Beit Sahour’s
natural expansion, so the Palestinians are forced to build in the pastures
where the Shepard’s of the bible had let their sheep graze and where sheep
graze to this day.
We were told that that night we were staying with villagers in their village
that, was under threat from the huge wall (or the Jidar) project the
Israeli Government is undertaking and would most probably not be there much longer.
We arrived at the village and had coffee on the terrace with some of the
local families and elders. Alex picked up Arabic words like I catch colds
(easily) and I struggled to keep up with all the buzzing vibes around me.
We were made to feel very, very welcome (masharban I think).
We were shown a water tank or reservoir that was built with the help of some
of the Italians in friendship (ssaadaga) and were told the USA in part helped
sponsor projects but also supplied and subsidized F16z to blow them up!
Maybe they capitalize off some of the contracts! Or maybe it is logical and
we are the crazy ones! The reservoir is the main water supply to the two
villages, especially as the piped water supply had been intentionally been
cut off that day! They have been told the reservoir will soon be destroyed as it is
built without Israeli authorization, in a C area. C stands for full Israeli
control. Unless of course the tank is
un-built in the next week it will be destroyed in the next month. The Evening meal was
enjoyed and left us all thinking why do we spend so much money on crap in
London. So far I found the vibes jumped from heavy but by no means complete
desperation, to the celebration of life and the struggle in the blink of an
eyelid.
That night we stayed with one of the safest families I have ever met. The
children had an expression I can not describe when we talked about the occupation. But their love and beauty shone when we hanging out
with them in their free spirited way. The oldest son was deep and knew more
about world politics and figure heads than george bush. The adults were
lovingly intense and listened to our views but didn’t let any ignorance of
the situation in Palestine or Iraq go unchecked. We were treated with so
much love it was almost like we were old friends not people from the
heartlands of imperialism.
19th April 2003
After the best nights sleep I’ve had since it really dawned on me that we
were actually going to Palestine; I woke up and realized that the family had
got up at five to harvest the cucumbers. I went to lend a hand but nearly
missed the whole thing because it was eight. We picked the last lot and
loaded the car with cucumbers for the market and then walked from Al Normaan
back to Al Hass.
The Israeli army had dug a big trench in the road and left the pile of earth
next to it, another logical way to spend your time don’t you think!? This
had happened last week but most roads seem to have suffered a similar fate,
unless of course the tanks hadn’t rendered them almost impossible to drive
on. (If you live with tanks or occupation you will realize tanks and roads
don’t get on). Yet not much appears impossible in Palestine and it seems even
the occupation is not an impossible shitstem to over throw, for these
amazing people.
We also linked our first student union today and visited the joint
Palestinian Israeli Alternative Information Centre. We got a close up of the wall project and a settlement
in the Biblical area of Mazmoria. And visited the Saba Monastery in Deer Ma
Saba the most intriguingly breathtaking place I have ever seen, but the
smell was of the sewage from Jerusalem flowing down the gorge to the Dead
Sea. The day was rounded up discussing progressive elements of how
socialism and Islam could possibly work together to give the people of the
world a better life. Not oppression of the masses through our common
enemies token democracy, capitalism and the rulers greed. They are now seen as enemies because
they made the fateful mistake of saying 'You are with us or against us.'
Finally, like many people in sufferation the Palestinians have got jokes.
After the USA were sensationalizing the destruction of Saddam’s statues,
they said the Iraqi information minister made one of his historic speeches;
The USA and their mercenaries have celebrated the destruction of Saddam’s
statues, but I am glad to inform you that they pulled down those of Saddam’s
look-alikes not those of Saddam!"
Here is the story of the people of AL Kass and Al Nomaan, as conveyed to us
by the counsel leader and the clan’s leader in the two villages. It must be
written now because of new developments.
Sitting under the tree not yet aware of how immediate the danger to the
community was we were summoned to come and listen.
Al Norman has 250 inhabitants and Al Hass has 500. They live in two
villages but consider them selves one interlinked community.
The clan leaders reality went like this.
‘We are living in this land since the last century. There are 6,000 dunums
in this area roughly 6,000 square meters. 50% is own by people from Beit
Sahour the other 50% by the villagers. All Students in the village before
1964 studied in Jerusalem as it close to our place. In 1992 the Israeli
council said to build no more houses on our land, because it was inside the
area of Jerusalem what is said to be isreals capital. In 1994 the isreali
handed over the administration to the Palestinian Authority. Until now all
the villagers have Palestinian I.D. not Israeli Palestinian. 1 man was
forced to pay 15,000 sheckles to build a house. In 1995 the final students
who had managed to study in Jerusalem in had there studies discontinued as
they have only Palestinian I.D. cards. At the same time they forbid them to
build because they say our land is in the Jerusalem area. (If you have not
yet realized this is a blatant contradiction and denies the basic human
rights of the people). The isrealis closed all roads which connect the
village to Jerusalem the last time was exactly one week ago.
I will finish this report tonight and send the final version tommorrow. But
please can you all look in to a lawyer who could take up the case or sponsor
ship so the people can fight on.
Since this we have been to Hebron and had a very good talk today with the
people from Hebron files, who document every thing that happens there. We
also saw the oppresive bulldozing in action. The people are suffering
greatly and are also in dire need of more than maximum support.
The people of palestine send their love and solidarity.
No peace without justice Ralph.
Anyone wishing more information should contact Tracey at UELSU on 0208 223 2420.
